Neil Smith

The @FBI and our partners are seeing malicious cyber activity targeting industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems around the world. These systems help keep food, medicine, and other products at safe temperatures and are widely used across critical infrastructure sectors. Attackers are targeting electronic temperature and refrigeration controllers, particularly in grocery stores and cold storage facilities. In at least one recent incident, attackers targeted refrigeration components at three foreign blood service facilities. While this attack was unsuccessful due to the proper alert mechanisms in place, security weaknesses in unpatched or internet-accessible controllers can allow attackers to change system settings, potentially causing inventory loss and equipment damage. The FBI urges organizations using these systems to take the following steps: ➡️ Take controllers off the public internet ➡️ Put access behind a firewall ➡️ Change default passwords ➡️ Learn how vendors configure devices ➡️ Set safe temperature limits ➡️ Ensure alerts reach the right contacts For technical details and more information on how to protect these systems, read our advisory: ic3.gov/CSA/2026/261105.pdf

Do all Chinese phones snitch on you to the Chinese government or only Xiaomi?

I don’t think Europeans fully appreciate what is happening to the European Union right now. The EU is under an extraordinary, multi-front assault, both from outside and from within. And I struggle to think of another period in its history when so many powerful actors had an interest in weakening it simultaneously. Russia has spent years waging hybrid warfare against Europe. Weaponised migration, sabotage, cyberattacks, coordinated disinformation campaigns, bot networks and political interference. The objective is clear: undermine trust in democratic institutions, deepen social divisions and weaken European unity. China has different motivations, primarily economic and geopolitical. A fragmented Europe is easier to pressure, easier to negotiate with individually and less capable of defending its economic interests. And then there is the United States. Perhaps the most disturbing development of all. Under Trump and MAGA, a country that helped rebuild the old continent and then spent decades supporting European integration now has an administration openly hostile to much of what the EU represents. Its own National Security Strategy even calls for cultivating resistance to Europe’s current political direction. Think about that for a moment. Meanwhile, within Europe, parts of the far right and far left amplify these divisions, whether through ideological alignment, political opportunism or outright sympathy for authoritarian regimes. This doesn’t mean Russia, China and MAGA are all following some jointly coordinated master plan. They don’t have to. Their interests increasingly overlap, and Europe’s internal divisions make their work considerably easier. What makes this particularly alarming is what is actually at stake. For all its flaws, the EU remains one of the world’s most consequential projects built around liberal democracy, the rule of law, individual freedoms and cooperation between nations. At a time when authoritarianism is gaining ground and even longstanding democracies are showing disturbing tendencies, that matters enormously. Europe is far from perfect. Its bureaucracy, indecision and inability to act decisively are real problems. But the answer cannot be to retreat into 27 competing nation-states, each too small to meaningfully influence a world increasingly dominated by continental powers. Quite the opposite. Europe needs deeper integration, stronger common institutions, genuine strategic autonomy and the political courage to defend its interests and values. Because fragmentation is precisely what so many external actors want. And perhaps that’s the central irony of our time: people are being deliberately manipulated into believing that the reverse is true — that national identity and sovereignty can only be protected by weakening European cooperation. In reality, a divided Europe is less sovereign, less secure and far easier for outside powers to pressure. Therefore the very thing that will make Europe stronger is the thing its adversaries are working hardest to prevent. A united Europe is a geopolitical power. A divided Europe is a collection of countries waiting to be played against one another.

Was the fact in France for a long time. In Japan, when I bought the marriage ring of my wife, I've been mind blown that I could just come unannounced to the bank, and withdraw a bag of cash to buy it without any question... It is actually 100x easier than doing a cross border transfer. At least a good point for Japanese banks!

Bit of an Apple fan myself, owning many of their devices, and did upgrade to the iPhone 18 Pro Max just recently. That may end soon. Running into App Store rejections myself in the last 2 weeks. If I can't create an app and share them with my customers, then what's the point? Yes, Google can reject your app from their store too. But they still let you sign your app and distribute it as an APK. In fact, they even allow be self-updating APKs. Unless Apple fixes this ASAP, I'm done with iDevices.

I’ve lived in 3 European cities in the last 10 years and I can say the same? We are both lucky?

Another example of: "if Apple decides you're done, you're done" But of course, some naive people cannot comprehend that you can play by the rules and still get wiped

Avec l’Allemagne, nous avons trouvé un accord pour assurer l’avenir du secteur automobile européen. Nous portons une ambition claire : réussir la transformation de notre industrie automobile, tout en maintenant notre ambition climatique et notre production en Europe. Notre cap ne change pas : réduire fortement les émissions de CO₂ et produire en France et en Europe les futures voitures électriques. C'est cela la préférence européenne. Nous souhaitons que cette dynamique franco-allemande puisse aboutir à un accord rapidement avec nos partenaires, pour nos emplois et notre industrie. L’Europe doit être un continent qui innove, qui investit et qui produit tout en protégeant le climat et en préservant nos emplois, c’est le sens de notre engagement.

Turns out the future does have flying cars

Ledger just unveiled the Ledger Atom, a security-first phone running LedgerOS based on Android. - Hardware switch that physically cuts cameras/mics - Indicator whenever the secure enclave is in use @Ledger says it’s not meant to replace your phone day one. Details coming soon!